David Booth Knocked Out vs. Canadiens: Alert, Coherent and Going to Hospital

BY GEORGE RICHARDS

MONTREAL – The Panthers had another
scary moment involving winger David Booth on Thursday as he hit the
ice after taking a hard hit from Canadiens' defenseman Jaroslav
Spacek during the second period of their game against the Canadiens
at Bell Center.,

Booth was helped off the ice and taken
from the arena to a local hospital.

According to team spokesman Justin
Copertino, Booth was attended to by Dr. David Mulder of the Montreal
Canadiens medical team. Mulder said Booth was alert, attentive and
moving around. Booth is expected to travel with the team via bus to
Ottawa on Friday morning.

Booth missed 45 games this season after
suffering a concussion in a hit delivered by Philadelphia's Mike
Richards on Oct. 24.

That hit, and the ensuing coverage that
followed it, helped pave the way for rule changes on the way the
league doles out punishment for hits to the head. The league's union,
coincidentally, agreed to the stiffer penalties hours before
Thursday's game.

Richards was assessed a game misconduct
for his hit on Booth; Spacek was not penalized and watched Booth
receive treatment as he stood on the ice a few feet away.

On Thursday, Booth was moving the puck
along the boards near the Montreal blue line when the veteran Spacek
rushed in and hit Booth square in the face with his elbow. Booth hit
the ice, although he didn't fall face-first as he did following the
Richards hit.

Booth lay motionless on the ice for a
few moments but started moving once athletic trainer Dave Zenobi
reached him. After a minute or two, Booth rolled over, and sat up. He
woozily stood up as Zenobi and a few teammates helped him into the
tunnel leading into the Panthers locker room.

Florida trailed 2-0 at the point of the
Booth hit as the host Canadiens continued working toward a playoff
berth as they scored twice in the opening period. Tomas Vokoun,
starting in net for the first time since last Saturday, gave up a
backhander to Benoit Pouliot off a Florida turnover with 7:20 left in
the first.

Montreal got its second goal less than
four minutes later when Brian Gionata scored from the right circle.